Crushing on kenzie delud.., p.1
Crushing on Kenzie (Deluded Serenity Book 2), page 1
CRUSHING
ON KENZIE
A Deluded Serenity novel by
Cassandra Lawson
Copyright ©2021 Cassandra Lawson
All Rights Reserved
Cover designed by Pink Ink Designs
Proofreading by Kendra’s Editing and Book Services
This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events are creations of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Also by Cassandra Lawson
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About the Author
Also by Cassandra Lawson
Deluded Serenity Series
Sinning with Mia
Reckless Release Series
Rocking Standby
Rock & Regrets
Rocking Perfection
Rock Her Crazy
Rocking Christmas
Reckless Release Companion Novels
Thin Walls
Body Shots and Betrayal
Unscripted Desires
Spells That Bind Series
Sinfully Spellbound
Shamelessly Spellbound
Seductively Spellbound
Undeniably Hellbound
Inescapably Hellbound
Reluctantly Hellbound
Scandalously Hellbound
Hopelessly Hellbound
Irresistibly Moonbound
Death and Christmas
Love Without Batteries Series
Dirty at 30
Naughty at 30
Sultry at 30
Moon Virus Series
Raven’s Blood
Embrace the Heat
Seducing Death
Shattered Restraint
Impulsive Destiny
Untamed Winter
Inevitable Darkness
Psy-Vamp Series
Vampires and Vixens
Safe Hex With a Vampire
Vampires Prefer Blondes
The Vampire Will See You Now
Wanton with a Vampire
Vampire in Geek’s Clothing
Wicked Crazy Vampire Love
A Vampire Christmas
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my beta readers, April, Kari, and Yvonne, for helping me get this book ready. I’d also like to thank my husband and daughters for all of their support and encouragement.
Prologue
Kenzie
Sweet sixteen got a little sweeter when my mom had to go out of town the weekend of my birthday party.
At first, she’d told me and my twin, Molly, we’d have to reschedule our birthday sleepover. We begged her to let us have it while she was away.
She’d finally relented, agreeing that we could have our two closest friends over—no boys except for my brother, Caeden.
His band was also at the house, but not for long.
“Kenz! Moll!” Caeden shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah?” I yelled back.
“I’m running to the store with the guys. I’ll be back soon. We’re drawing straws to see who stays behind with you.”
“We don’t need a sitter, Caeden!” I shouted.
“Chill, Kenz.” He sounded exasperated. “We don’t want to take two cars, and I only have four seats.”
“Get more chocolate!” Molly shouted back.
“I wonder who he’s leaving behind,” Sheri mused.
Molly flashed her an evil grin. “Now, I know your dare. You have to go over to Caeden’s room and see who’s still in there.”
“I hope it’s Zach,” Sheri said with a dreamy smile. “He’s so cute.”
“Zach?” I asked. “He’s all right, but not my type.”
“Kenzie likes Sam,” Molly blabbed, laughing when I glared at her.
“I do not!”
It was just a little crush. Sam was really cute, but it’s not like I held out any hope of ever having a relationship with him.
“He’s hot,” Sheri said with a sigh. “I like Zach better. Rye is also super cute. Your brother has yummy friends.”
“Her brother is yummy,” Dahlia added with a giggle.
“Ew!” both Molly and I said in unison.
“You can’t date my brother,” I told her.
“I don’t want to date him,” Dahlia replied with a saucy smile. “I just want to play seven minutes in heaven with him.”
I shuddered in disgust. “Even grosser.” My attention returned to Sheri. “Go and find out who’s in Caeden’s room.”
Sheri hurried out of the room with a giggle as we all took bets on who’d been left behind. She came back and giggled some more.
“Who is it?” Molly asked.
“Sam,” Sheri replied in a hushed voice. “He’s over there waiting for you, Kenzie.”
“I don’t think so.” I blushed, much to my mortification.
“I don’t know what he did, but Sam’s voice is gone,” Sheri stated. “He called out to me, but I could barely hear him.”
“He must have tried singing with the band again,” Molly remarked. “Sam has a horrible voice, but he sometimes decides he can sing.”
“He should stick to guitar,” I agreed. “Maybe we should offer to make him soup.”
They all giggled.
“You can nurse him back to health,” Sheri teased. “Or kiss him to make it all better.”
“Shut up!” I said with a laugh.
“It’s Kenzie’s turn,” Dahlia said.
“Truth or dare?” Sheri asked.
I already knew that if I picked truth, she’d ask me about my crush on Sam. It was so embarrassing, and I didn’t want to admit it out loud.
“Dare,” I replied.
Sheri grinned, making me regret my decision instantly. This was the answer she’d hoped to hear. “I dare you to go into your brother’s room blindfolded and kiss Sam.”
My mouth dropped open.
Kiss Sam?
I should have stuck with truth. This was sure to be completely humiliating.
“Caeden will lose his shit,” Molly argued.
“We won’t tell him,” Sheri insisted.
Dahlia was already approaching me with a scarf to use as a blindfold. “It will be so fun. Do it or I will.”
I frowned because I didn’t want Dahlia kissing Sam. She was much prettier than me. If he saw her coming into the room with her tanned skin, silky black hair, and hazel eyes, he’d probably kiss her senseless.
“Fine,” I agreed. “I’ll do it, but don’t be surprised when he pushes me back out the door.”
Everyone giggled while Dahlia put the blindfold on me, and then they all quieted as Sheri led me down the hall to Caeden’s room. My heart beat wildly against my ribs as she pushed me into the room and closed the door behind me.
“Kenzie?” I heard his hoarse whisper from across the room. “What are you doing in here?”
My tongue darted out to moisten my lips as I took a deep breath.
What was I doing? This was crazy.
I heard his footsteps as he moved closer.
“Let me guess,” he began from much closer. “Truth or dare? Sheri came to see who was in here, and then you got a dare?”
“Kiss me,” I whispered.
“Kenz, Caeden would kill me.”
“I won’t tell him,” I promised. “You don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to.”
He let out a raspy laugh. “I wish that was my problem.”
His rough fingers stroked my cheek, and my lips parted.
My blood pounded through my veins as I waited for his kiss and wondered if he’d send me away. It’s what I expected, yet he still hadn’t stopped touching me.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” I breat
His lips brushed against mine, and my mouth tingled as heat spread through me. His tongue stroked my lips as his hand moved back to thread through my hair. He kept the kiss light, but it still felt like fire was racing through my veins.
“Kenzie,” he whispered. “This is such a bad idea.”
“Please kiss me again, Sam.”
I felt the tension radiating from his body.
“Shit.” He moved around me, and I heard the bedroom door open. “What the fuck was I thinking? This was a huge mistake.”
My hands shook as I reached up to push the blindfold off in time to see him slamming the door behind him.
“What did I do?” I whispered.
Sam didn’t like me that way. He regretted kissing me, and if there was a god, he would never mention this humiliating moment to my brother or anyone else.
Chapter 1
Jos
“Hey there, sexy.”
I spun when I heard her voice behind me, my eyes widening in surprise.
What was she doing here?
It’s not that I wasn’t used to beautiful women cornering me after a show. Even before Deluded Serenity signed with a major label, back when we were the opening band rather than the headliner, I still had girls throwing themselves at me after a show.
This girl was a serious problem.
“Kenzie,” I whispered as I turned to face her. “What are you doing back here?”
She flashed me a smile filled with wicked promise as she moved closer. Her hips swayed with each step, and her brown eyes sparkled with mischief.
Kenzie was so fucking hot that all I had to do was think about her and my dick got rock hard. Her reddish-brown hair fell to her waist, and her body was the stuff of every guy's wet dreams.
“What do you think I’m doing back here?” she cooed as she placed her hands on my chest and looked up at me. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, and I know you want me.”
“No.” My denial sounded weak, so I decided to try again. “No, Kenzie. Caeden would kill me. You’re his baby sister.”
“Do I look like a baby?” She pressed her breasts against my chest.
Hell no, she didn’t look like a baby!
“Fuck me,” I murmured as I reached out to cup her cheek. “You’re so damn beautiful.”
“I’ve wanted you for so long,” she whispered.
A loud pounding on the door proceeded Caeden’s shout. “Jos! Wake up, man! We gotta go!”
I groaned as I opened my eyes and looked around the empty room.
It had been yet another dream—a dream I shouldn’t be having.
“Have you got some girl in there?” Caeden asked.
“Give me a minute!” I called out. “You need to stop banging on my door, or we’ll get kicked out of this hotel.”
Caeden didn’t respond.
“Damn,” I muttered as I climbed out of bed and willed my dick to settle down. These dreams about Kenzie had to stop.
Caeden had five sisters, and the band members had been joking about dating them since high school, mostly just to mess with him.
At first, I’d only been kidding. His sisters had all seemed too young until shortly before Kenzie turned sixteen. That had been right before my eighteenth birthday, and I’d suddenly started to notice her in ways I shouldn’t.
Of course, I’d never planned to act on the attraction. Messing around with any of Caeden’s sisters would not go over well, but oh, was it tempting.
I went through some of my more unsexy thoughts as I slipped on a pair of sweat pants. The memory of the time I’d walked in on my parents having sex was enough to kill my erection.
Caeden looked irritated when I opened the door. “You know we have soundcheck in an hour, right?”
“Yeah, sorry. The alarm on my phone didn’t go off for some reason. Thanks for coming by to wake me up.”
He held up a bag and grinned. “I also brought you a breakfast sandwich.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
“Any time,” he said as he entered the room and set the bag on the table. “I thought for sure you had a girl in here.”
“You saw me go back to my room alone last night,” I reminded him.
“And you’ve been known to bring some chick in after everyone else is asleep,” he reminded me. “I still remember that one time we were all crammed into the same motel room, and you hooked up with a groupie in the bathroom.”
I cringed. That hadn’t been one of my finest moments.
“I don’t know how you guys put up with me some days.”
Caeden laughed. “You don’t even come close to winning the king of stupid shit award in the band.”
“I should eat and shower,” I told him.
“Right,” he agreed with a nod. “We have a busy day ahead of us. There is one thing I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Kenzie is going to meet us in Phoenix,” he explained.
“Kenzie?” I asked.
“Yeah, my sister.”
“I know who Kenzie is, but I didn’t know she was coming to see the show in Phoenix. That’s great news. I haven’t seen her in forever.”
“It’s more than that. She’ll be traveling with us,” he began. “Madi hired her, and I asked to have her assigned to work with us for the rest of the tour when Daryl quit. Don’t tell Kenzie it was my idea.”
“Why did you ask to have her assigned to work with us?”
“I want her here.”
When I merely quirked an eyebrow in response, he continued.
“At first, I didn’t want her working with us,” he admitted. “In fact, I was going to tell Madi it would be a problem for the band, but I’ve changed my mind.
“Yet you don’t look happy. Are you worried that having your sister around will cramp your style?”
He shook his head. “I’m more worried about putting up with you and the other guys. At least you’ve stopped messing with me since we started this tour. You can continue being cool, right?”
Cool?
What did that even mean?
Was I supposed to agree to keep my dirty mind from coming up with fantasies about my best friend’s sister?
Was he asking me to keep my hands to myself?
Could I promise to do either?
“Sure,” I replied. “I’ll set a good example for the rest of the band.”
Caeden chuckled. “That will be a first for you.”
Chapter 2
Kenzie
Despite my cool exterior as I walked through the empty stadium where Deluded Serenity was currently doing soundcheck, I was apprehensive about my new job. This could be a great opportunity for me—unless I was in over my head.
It wasn’t starting a new job that had me most nervous; I was seeing Sam, my secret crush since high school.
I could do this.
Taking a deep breath, I sat near the front and waited for the guys to finish. Caeden knew I’d be working with them, but I didn’t know if he’d told the band yet.
Did Sam know?
Was he dreading having me around?
Worried I still liked him?
It was hard to say since Madi had agreed to let Caeden tell them. Even Caeden would be surprised by my early arrival.
“What are you doing here, Kenzie?” Caeden asked as he jumped off the stage and came over to me.
My brother was a few inches taller than me, with the same brown eyes. While we each had brown hair, mine also had a lot of red in it.
I stood and hugged him. “Madi asked me to start a little early.”
Caeden pulled back and quirked an eyebrow. “I thought Molly was going to be working with the band.”
I smacked his arm. “You’re such a jerk!”
He grinned. “But you love me.”
“You are my favorite brother,” I agreed.
“Kenzie is working with the band?” Sam asked as he approached us.
My heart beat faster. Sam was the guitarist, and he was gorgeous. He was only a couple inches taller than me with the build of a runner. He had moss green eyes and short blond hair.
“I’ll be handling scheduling and coordinating with security,” I explained. “Madi wanted me here earlier since Daryl had to leave.”
Daryl had originally been assigned to work with the band, but he’d decided to take a new job that didn’t allow him to finish the end of the tour.
“And you’re okay with this, Caeden?” Zach, the keyboardist, asked as he approached. His blue eyes were focused on my brother. He stood a couple of inches over six-feet-tall with black hair that fell to just past his broad shoulders.
